Making Shooters Better

Summary: Are you genuinely improving your skills, or simply getting better at practicing what you already know? In this episode of Making Shooters Better, retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant and Special Forces veteran William “Will” Thornton joins Terry Vaughan to explore why meaningful improvement requires more than repetition and experience. Drawing on his journey from the 82nd Airborne to Special Forces selection, along with decades of leadership and coaching, Will shares lessons about menta...

Summary: What if the training that makes you feel prepared is actually giving you a false sense of confidence? In this episode of Making Shooters Better, host Terry Vaughan sits down with 2025 ILEETA Trainer of the Year Duane Wolfe to expose the dangerous gap between practicing shooting skills and performing when your life is on the line. From the hidden pitfalls of scripted training and competition shooting to the physiological effects of stress, Duane explains why knowing how to shoot is on...

What actually makes someone a better shooter? Frank Melloni has spent more than a decade answering that question from nearly every angle in the firearms world. A Top Shot Season 4 competitor and president of Renaissance Firearms Instruction, Frank is also a competitive shooter, precision rifleman, handloader, hunter, instructor, and prolific firearms writer with more than 1,100 published articles. In this episode of Making Shooters Better, Frank and Terry Vaughan reunite fourteen years after ...

You can shoot regularly and still not be training. Kyle Johnston learned that firsthand. After serving in the Marine Corps, Kyle spent nearly a decade building a successful career in filmmaking and media before returning to military service and ultimately becoming a Green Beret with the 19th Special Forces Group. When he returned to structured firearms training, something surprising happened: the shooting ability he thought he had began falling apart as soon as speed, movement, timers, and pr...

EPISODE SUMMARY After decades of teaching defensive firearms and tactics, John and Vicki Farnam argue that becoming harder to kill has far less to do with simply becoming better at shooting. We explore preparation as a way of life, recognizing and avoiding danger, the difference between force and violence, why instructors must adapt to their students, what happens psychologically when avoidance is no longer possible, and why some of the greatest victories in defensive training end without ...